(Dec-30-2011, 04:51 PM (UTC))Valarya Wrote: Where is this link everyone is talking about with prices better than amazon for books? (Better than the used section of amazon!?) Do tell!!

I was thinking along the same lines...better prices than Amazon? Surely not! Well, I'm about to find out

After a very quick look, I'm not too convinced. However, when I next intend to buy a book, I'll look on TBD before I commit to buy on Amazon, just in case. Also, Amazon appeals because of the used books available for what is usually a nominal amount compared to the cost of brand new. We'll see.

We actually have links for abebooks as well, both in the actual main page and the main page for the forum. If you have an ad-blocker installed, but would still like to use our affiliate links, I usually post relevant text links when I post any book news (like right now the top news on the main page is about City of Dragons, and you can see affiliate links in it, both for amazon and TBD and both the uk and us sites). Any more questions, feel free to ask!

“Men it is who think they can rule others' lives but have no bonds to them. Do you think that to bond or not to bond is for you alone to decide?”

- the book depository UK is at GBP 10.78 (since the payout in Sept 2011 that covered our hosting)
- the book depository US is still at USD 1.11 (like it's been pretty much since the beginning, hmm)
- amazon UK is at GBP 17.87 (since last gift certificate in October 2010)
- amazon US is at USD 8.89 (since last gift certificate in Jan 2011)
- with abebooks there are some clicks but still no purchases. I guess people just aren't looking for those out-of-print books or buy them somewhere else - these banners are going to go soon.

I don't know if anyone is even interested in these figures, my reasoning in posting them is that I want to try to be as transparent as possible with the affiliate programs (that is, the annoying advertising is not making me rich = the site is non-profit )

“Men it is who think they can rule others' lives but have no bonds to them. Do you think that to bond or not to bond is for you alone to decide?”

these beings tried to use it a while ago, but it seemed not to remember use after logging into book depository (UK version)...

Note:
when 'thul write in all italics, it is the lord of the three realms within 'thul speaking. A fairly egoistical, but also somewhat simple-minded dragon. Do not take such posts at face value.

__..)/..____________..\/..____________..\(..__
¯¯””/(””¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯''(''/\'')''¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯””)\””¯¯
"Its for charity. Widows and orphans. We need more of them."
__..)/..____________..\/..____________..\(..__
¯¯””/(””¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯''(''/\'')''¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯””)\””¯¯

'thul, I'm not sure I understand what you mean? These sites usually use use cookies to see where traffic comes from and that's how they determine when to credit affiliates for the sales. So unless it's been a long time since your visit through the banner (and you then visited again just by typing the url to make the purchase) or you systematically delete all cookies from your browser after each visit or something, it should still count towards our revenue.

“Men it is who think they can rule others' lives but have no bonds to them. Do you think that to bond or not to bond is for you alone to decide?”

these beings aren't sure what cookies get through and which ones don't. Not with multiple computers used at the same time. Nor for that matter how long since link was last clicked.

Note:
when 'thul write in all italics, it is the lord of the three realms within 'thul speaking. A fairly egoistical, but also somewhat simple-minded dragon. Do not take such posts at face value.

__..)/..____________..\/..____________..\(..__
¯¯””/(””¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯''(''/\'')''¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯””)\””¯¯
"Its for charity. Widows and orphans. We need more of them."
__..)/..____________..\/..____________..\(..__
¯¯””/(””¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯''(''/\'')''¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯””)\””¯¯

Just to keep the reporting up-to-date, I've received a $10.89 gift certificate from amazon.com. This is the third time since early 2009 when I joined the program that I've got one from the US store (they've all been approximately the same figure too, and a lot of the purchases there are non-hobb related, ie they're generated from my other sites). Don't know why, but most of you seem to prefer the UK stores, whether amazon or TBD.

“Men it is who think they can rule others' lives but have no bonds to them. Do you think that to bond or not to bond is for you alone to decide?”

Right, I've added an amazon (uk) search widget to the sidebar of the wiki and I'd love to know what you people think - is it horrible, an abomination, ugly, distracting, does it slow everything down or could it maybe even be useful? For years I've wanted to be able to link from the book pages of the wiki to an affiliate store, but all the available extensions are rather cumbersome or downright unsafe to use. I actually really wanted to embed a search banner from the book depository, but at the moment it looks like I can't customise it to fit. So amazon it is. Sigh. My hope is that, someone browsing the wiki and coming across a Hobb/Lindholm title they hadn't previously known about might be inspired to quickly use it to search for that title. We'll see what happens... but please let me know if you find it super annoying!

“Men it is who think they can rule others' lives but have no bonds to them. Do you think that to bond or not to bond is for you alone to decide?”